


And She Didn't Leave

by pein



Category: Naruto
Genre: Akatsuki-centric, Fix-It of Sorts, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-20
Updated: 2018-03-20
Packaged: 2019-03-21 14:43:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13743147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pein/pseuds/pein
Summary: A series of connected oneshots and twoshots about a missing-nin from Suna who was recruited to the Akatsuki. Mostly focused on friendships. Very self-indulgent. Follows the canon events, but changes the inner workings of the Akatsuki. Major character death in later chapters. Kind of fix-it? IDK. Have fun. (Probably won’t update fast because I have a short attention span. Also, pairings come into play around chapter 5 ish.)





	1. The First Mission (Part One)

It’s a cold day in the Akatsuki hideout, and it’s certainly not any warmer in the throne room that Pein insists on spending all of his time in. Kakuzu has been called in for a briefing of sorts - the leader of the Akatsuki said he has some news for him.

“I’m getting a new partner?” asks Kakuzu as soon as he’s given the information. “That’s pretty fast, even for you.”

Pein smiles humorlessly. “I had Kisame and Itachi retrieve her a week ago. She’s been in recovery since then.”

Kakuzu snorts. “They roughed her up that badly? I’m not sure I’m a good fit, then.”

“You’d be surprised,” Pein replies vaguely. “Somehow, I think this one will stay.” He turns slightly towards the hallway leading to the medical rooms. “Come out, Ema.”

A girl walks into the room, and Kakuzu instantly recognizes her. He’s seen those cold blue eyes before, staring up at him from a Sunagakure bingo book page. Her hair is much shorter than the last time he’s seen a picture of her before, though, and he wonders if Kisame has something to do with that.

“You must be Kakuzu-san,” she says softly. Her expression is carefully neutral.

“Ema of the Red Wind,” he replies.

She frowns, just a little bit, and then her face is blank as a mask again. “I see my reputation precedes me.”

“I’d thought you’d be older.”

“Most people do,” she agrees. She turns to Pein. “Leader, is there anything you would like for me to do before we leave?”

“You are both dismissed,” he says. “Do try not to kill this one, Kakuzu. She’s a rather strong fighter.”

Kakuzu barely stops himself from rolling his eyes. “Right. Okay, girl. Follow me.” He turns and walks out of the throne room, Ema trailing silently after him.

“How old are you?” he asks. “I was under the impression of twenties, maybe thirties if you had some sort of rejuvenating jutsu.”

“I am seventeen,” she says. “I made genin at ten, chuunin at eleven, special jounin at twelve, and general jounin at fifteen.”

“Fair enough.”

They walk in silence until they reach Kakuzu’s room.

“Your bed will be the one by the door,” he says. “Your dresser is the one across from your bed. We have a shower connected to the room, but no bathtub. You’ll have to ask Itachi or Kisame about that.” He watches the girl’s expression closely, looking for a hint of recognition, but sees nothing. Interesting. “Anyways, for now, follow me anywhere you wish to go. Once you meet the others, you can bother them instead. Be careful not to enter the others’ rooms, I know Sasori has trapped his doorway. That might just be to irritate Deidara, though.”

Ema nods. “Thank you for the information, Kakuzu-san.”

“No need to be so formal,” he sighs. “You’re my equal now, no matter the age or seniority. That’s how things work around here.”

She looks up at him confusedly. “This is just how I am.”

“Oh. Right.” Dealing with impolite bastards every second of every day kind of makes manners seem odd.

The girl lays down on her bed, not even bothering to pull the covers over her, and falls asleep within minutes.

“Must be recovering from a genjutsu,” Kakuzu murmurs to himself. From what he knows, Ema is primarily a taijutsu specialist. She probably isn’t good at deflecting genjutsu. He’ll have to work with her on that if he has time. No use in her being his partner if she’s weak.

He heads to the bathroom for a shower and lets the steam clear his mind. Ema is definitely not what he expected. Small, detached, polite - she’s the opposite of Kakuzu. He’s the second tallest of everyone in the Akatsuki, he regularly kills people in fits of anger, and he’s not the kindest. Ema will take some getting used to. She’s not a throwaway like his last two partners had been, that much is obvious. Pein must really see something in her. He might as well give her a chance.

Kakuzu turns off the water and quickly dries himself off, leaving his hair wet and not caring one bit about it. He enters the bedroom quietly, trying not to wake up his new partner, but she appears to be awake already. He sighs, sits on his bed, and waits for her to speak.

“I apologize for falling asleep so soon,” she says, exhaustion lacing her voice. “I didn’t even ask if you needed me for something.”

Something in his chest tightens, and Kakuzu shakes his head. “It’s fine. Go back to bed. Get under the covers, though, or you’ll get sick. You’ll be useless if you’re ill.”

“Your hair is wet,” says Ema, ignoring him. She stands and heads for the bathroom. “Wait here.”

She returns with a dry towel and cautiously approaches Kakuzu. She doesn’t appear afraid, merely apprehensive. She touches the towel to his head, and when she isn’t stopped, begins drying his hair.

“I don’t get sick, you know,” he gripes half-heartedly, unwilling to fight this late at night.

“Your pillow might mold,” she counters.

“I thought you’d be afraid of me.”

“You’re not nearly as frightening as the children I used to babysit.”

Kakuzu huffs a surprised laugh. “You? Babysitting kids?”

Ema pulls away and tosses the towel back into the bathroom. “That’s a story for another time,” she says, but there’s a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. Then she yawns, and Kakuzu does the same.

“Bedtime,” he says. “Don’t forget to pull the covers over you this time.”

“I don’t need you to tell me to sleep,” she says with a slight scowl. “I was going to sleep anyways.”

“Alright, alright.” He reaches up to a lamp and pulses a bit of chakra through it, turning it off. Ema does the same with the lamp above her bed.

He lays down and is asleep so quickly that he almost misses Ema’s quiet “sleep well, Kakuzu-san”.

Morning comes bright and early, not that Kakuzu would know it. The only natural light in the entire hideout is in the throne room. However, every shinobi worth their salt has an inner clock that tells them exactly when to get up.

Kakuzu assumes that he has approximately half an hour before his would normally go off when he wakes to yelling in the hallway.

“I don’t _want_ to kill you!”

“You snuck into the hideout! There’s no reason for you to be here, un!”

“Deidara. Why is it always Deidara?” Kakuzu groans before dragging himself out of the bed and out into the hallway. A glance at the empty bed next to the door helps put the puzzle together and create a picture that he isn’t entirely unsurprised about.

Before Deidara can yell any more and wake the entire hideout, Kakuzu grabs him by the collar and shakes him. “Didn’t Leader tell you about our new recruit, brat?”

“Woah, woah! I wasn’t told anything about a new recruit!”

“Surprise?” says Ema weakly, pushing at the hand around her neck. Deidara lets go, and Kakuzu nearly winces at the bruise already forming on the girl’s throat.

“Listen here, blondie. This is my new partner. She’s in recovery after being recruited. So unless you want to be the one to get another S-Rank ninja to replace her, I’d suggest leaving her alone.”

“Right,” says Deidara, swallowing hard. He turns to Ema and rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. “I’m sorry for attacking you, un. I’ll get you some bruise salve later. I’m Deidara. Nice to meet you.”

“I’m Ema,” the girl replies. “I’m sorry for not explaining my intentions properly.” She bows deeply. “I look forward to working with you.”

Deidara eyes her curiously. “How old are you?”

“Seventeen. How old are you?”

“Thirteen!” The blond grins. “So, we’re both kids!”

Kakuzu braces himself for the explosion that he’s sure is to follow, and is more than a little surprised when Ema quirks a smile and nods.

“I suppose we are.”

He sighs with relief and crosses his arms. “So, Deidara. What brings you to our room?”

Deidara pales. “Oh, crap! Right! You have a mission! Ema-chan too, I guess.” He glances at the girl, who looks amused. “Leader says to go report to him.”

“Right,” says Kakuzu. “Let me get dressed.”

Two minutes later, he, Ema, and Deidara are walking down the long and winding hallway to get to the throne room. The girl is mostly quiet, listening to the blond chatter on and on about art and explosions. Every once in awhile, she replies to a question that’s been asked, but is near silent the entire duration of the conversation. Kakuzu doesn’t know how she can do it.

Deidara waves goodbye to Ema at the door to the throne room, then heads off, probably to go back to sleep in the room he shares with Sasori.

“Good morning, Leader. I apologize for our lateness,” Ema says as they enter the throne room. Pein waves his hand dismissively.

“No matter. It’s not urgent.”

Kakuzu closes the door behind them, blocking out the last of the dim artificial light. Windows line the walls of the huge room, and sunlight is streaming in. It’s rare for any part of the hideout to be this well-lit, and Kakuzu finds himself wishing that there were windows in at least the kitchen.

“Now that you have arrived,” Pein says, “I have a mission for you two.”

He quickly debriefs them on the ins and outs of their target, a missing-nin from Kirigakure. They’re to kill him and report back within 5 days.

Before Pein lets them leave, he gives Ema a coat matching the rest of the Akatsuki.

“I wanted to see if you’d survive the night before I gave it to you,” he explains. “Sorry for not having faith in you.”

“I wouldn’t have faith in me either,” replies Ema evenly. “Kakuzu-san’s a scary guy.”

Pein simply hums in reply. Kakuzu turns a snort into a cough.

After Ema tugs on her coat, they leave the hideout. It’s early February, and thus extremely cold. Despite trying her best to tough out the below-freezing temperatures, Ema shivers almost violently as she and Kakuzu jump from tree to tree.

“Are you alright, girl?” he asks.

“I am perfectly fine,” she huffs back. “Focus on yourself.”

A few hours later, the duo stops to eat lunch. Ema is shaking so badly that she almost drops her chopsticks twice. Kakuzu sighs and decides to take pity on her.

“I’m going to build a fire and take a nap. We have plenty of time to find and kill this guy.”

Ema doesn’t have the willpower to say no, so she helps her partner build a fire and huddles close to it as Kakuzu lays down.

She watches as her partner’s breathing evens out and touches the forehead protector around her neck, a pang of homesickness hitting her. There are no forests like this in Suna. Just endless sand and rocks, with small patches of shrubs here and there. Forests have always made her feel small and alone, especially on solo missions, and now that she’s part of the Akatsuki she’ll probably never get to go back to Suna anyways.

She shakes off the thought. She can’t go back even if she wasn’t a missing-nin. Not after what they did.

Kakuzu stirs, and Ema stills. She isn’t sure how much time has passed, but she’s stopped shivering and feels ready to keep going.

Unbeknownst to the teenager, Kakuzu hasn’t slept at all. He still feigns that he had, though, and makes a show of stretching and yawning. He opens one eye and looks over at the hunched-over form of Ema.

“Ready?” he asks gruffly. The girl nods, and they put out the fire before continuing on towards the last place the missing-nin was seen.

That night, Ema sets up camp on her own while Kakuzu goes looking for water. They haven’t stumbled upon a single shinobi yet, not that either of them care. Ema finishes setting up a tent and sleeping bags and goes to start on the fire.

When Kakuzu doesn’t return an hour later, Ema begins to worry. Sure, Pein told her about Kakuzu’s immortality, but even immortals can get captured or tortured. She bites her lip and shoves the thoughts into a dark corner of her mind. She’s sure he’s alright.

But as the darkness gets stronger and the forest gets quieter, Ema’s fears start to creep back out. What if Kakuzu’s abandoned her? What if he’s been kidnapped? What if he’s hurt? She shakes her head firmly. There’s no use in worrying about her very capable partner, especially since she knows nothing about his habits.

Ema decides she’ll go looking for him in the morning if he hasn’t returned by then, but otherwise she’ll go on to bed. Rest is important.

She wakes the next morning curled up in her sleeping bag with a coat much larger than her own spread out over her body. Confusion washes over her, and she gets out of the sleeping bag and exits the tent.

There is Kakuzu, sitting calmly by the fire and reading a thick book. Ema sighs with relief, and that appears to alert the man to her presence.

“You shouldn’t sleep without someone to watch,” he says in greeting.

Ema looks away. “You were gone a very long time last night.”

“Found another missing-nin with a hefty bounty. I killed her and went to collect the money. When I came back here, you were asleep and shivering. I was worried you’d freeze to death.”

“Oh,” she says softly. “Thank you, then.”

The man shrugs. “It wouldn’t do for you to die before I get an idea of your skills.”

Ema crosses her arms and crouches beside the fire. They sit in silence for a few minutes before Kakuzu closes his book.

“You ready to clean up and get going?” he asks.

Ema nods. “I’ll go get your coat.”

“Thanks.”


	2. The First Mission (Part Two)

It turns out that killing a missing-nin isn’t as hard as it seems. Ema’s had experience, and so has her partner, and they silently agree to just get it over with as fast as possible.

The trip back to the base takes a day and a night, and neither of them are very talkative. The weather has evened out, making it a lot more comfortable to travel. Ema doesn’t shiver much, and Kakuzu doesn’t feel the need to stop to let her warm up, so the trip takes a lot less time than the trip to get to the missing-nin.

“We’re back,” says Ema as they approach the hideout. They hop down from the last tree and enter the throne room.

“You’re back,” Pein says in greeting. “How did it go?”

“The Kiri nin was very weak,” Kakuzu replies. “Otherwise, everything went off without a hitch.”

The other man nods. “I gave you a simple mission to test your teamwork. Well done. You’re dismissed.”

As soon as the throne room door clicks shut behind the two partners, they simultaneously breathe a sigh of relief.

“You didn’t kill me,” Ema says softly. “I’m surprised.”

Kakuzu shrugs. “You gave me no reason to.”

“Well, thank you for leaving me alive, I guess.”

They head to the kitchen, having skipped both breakfast and lunch on the final stretch back to the base. Ema enters first, then quickly makes an about face and runs to hide behind Kakuzu. Confused, the stitched man walks into the kitchen, trying to figure out what has scared his fearless partner. Then, it hits him. Literally. On the back.

“Yo! Kakuzu!” says a bright voice. “You have a new partner!”

“Kisame,” Kakuzu sighs. He doesn’t care enough to question Kisame feigning surprise at meeting Ema. “Hello.”

The girl peeks out from behind Kakuzu’s arm. “You’re a member of the Akatsuki?” she asks shakily.

“Yep! I’m Kisame Hoshigaki! Monster of the Mist, at your service!” The towering blue man kneels in front of Ema, who makes a fearful noise and retreats further behind Kakuzu. Kisame looks up confusedly at the stitched man. “She’s scared of me but not of you?”

Kakuzu grabs the girl’s wrist and pulls her in front of him. Might as well go along with the charade. “This is Ema. She’s from Suna. She’s probably never seen a person like you before.”

Ema looks like she might faint. “H-hello, Hoshigaki-san…”

Kisame chuckles. “Just Kisame is fine.”

“Kisame-san, then…”

A clattering from behind the blue man catches his attention, much to Kakuzu’s relief.

“Kisame, stop scaring people and come help me make rice balls.”

“Got it, Itachi!” Kisame stands up and walks back into the kitchen.

Ema sighs heavily with relief. Then she looks up at Kakuzu. “Sorry, Kakuzu-san. I’m scared of sharks.”

“It’s fine,” he says. “He won’t hurt you, though. Go on into the kitchen, you can’t hide forever.”

Ema looks like she’s seriously considering hiding forever, but she drops her head and walks into the kitchen anyways.

“You must be Ema-chan,” says a dark-haired man without turning away from the open pantry. “I’m Itachi. I’m Kisame’s partner.”

Okay, this is starting to get weird. Now Itachi is acting like he doesn’t know her? Kakuzu fights the urge to facepalm. Well, whatever. It doesn’t affect him one way or another.

“Oh, hello,” Ema replies. “Nice to meet you, Itachi-san.”

“Likewise,” he says distractedly. “Damn it, Kisame, what did you do with the seaweed?”

“Just because I’m fishlike doesn’t mean I ate all the seaweed!” Kisame says defensively. Then he rubs the back of his neck and smiles sheepishly. “Well, it might mean that.”

Ema shifts from foot to foot nervously, then appears to steel herself and walks over to Itachi. “I stole some seaweed from the guy Kakuzu-san and I killed. He doesn’t need it anymore. Would you like it?”

Itachi turns around. “Thank you, Ema-chan, that would be wonderful.”

Ema doesn’t even blink at Itachi’s intense gaze as she looks for the seaweed. Finally, she finds it. “Here you go.”

“Again, thank you.”

Ema goes back over to Kakuzu, who’s digging around in the fridge for something.

“Do you guys have any soup?” she asks quietly.

Kakuzu slams his head on a shelf and curses. He slowly pulls away from the fridge, sending a glare at Ema the second he can meet her eyes. He isn’t pleased to find subtle amusement shining there.

“Didn’t hear me coming?” she asks. “Sorry, Kakuzu-san.”

The stitched man takes a deep breath, represses his anger, and stands up. He grabs a can of soup off the nearest shelf and _hurls_ it at Ema. She catches it gracefully and gives him a tiny smile. It’s not pleasant.

“Thanks.”

“No problem,” he grinds out. Should’ve figured she’d use chakra to cushion her hands.

Kisame’s watching the back-and-forth with a sort of confused interest. “Your temper’s gotten better, Kakuzu!”

“Trust me,” the stitched man answers venomously. “I’ve noticed.”

Ema pours the can of soup into a bowl and tries to reach the microwave. Being the pipsqueak she is, she can’t quite reach the appliance.

Well, it’s as good a time as any to get over a fear. Ema taps Kisame on the arm lightly.

“Hm? What do you need, Ema-chan?”

Embarrassed, Ema leans towards the sharklike man. “I’m too short to reach the microwave,” she whispers. “Could you put this in there for me, please?”

Kisame chuckles. “Sure thing.” He takes the bowl from the girl’s shaking hands and puts it neatly in the microwave. “How long does it needa be in there?”

“Three minutes,” Ema answers, speaking in a normal voice this time. “Thank you, Kisame-san.”

Suddenly, Deidara’s loud voice cuts through the chatter in the kitchen.

“Ema-chan! You’re back, un!”

A strange smile makes its way onto her face, and she turns to greet the teenager. “Hello, Deidara-san.”

“How did it go? Well, it obviously went good, since you’re still alive, un. But did you do anything interesting?”

Ema shrugs. “The guy we went after was a really bad fighter, so I mostly just kicked him around ‘til Kakuzu-san killed him. It was kind of boring, really.”

“Next time, you should blow the guy up, un! It’s more fun!”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” says Ema, strange smile still on her face.

Kakuzu is almost confused for a moment, because why would that brat be looking at that other brat like that-

And then realization hits him like a kunai to the stomach, and he screws up his face in disgust.

“You are entirely too young to be dating,” he says without thinking.

The smile on Ema’s face drops and in its place is fury. “You know, Kakuzu-san,” she says in a deathly calm voice. “I like you, so I’m going to give you ten seconds to get your ass out of here before I shove my foot up it.”

Kakuzu does what any smart man would do when a teenage girl is mad at him - he runs. Nevermind that he could normally take her, nevermind that she’s a lot smaller than him, nevermind that he could probably hide behind Kisame and be safe, Kakuzu runs like the death god himself is after his soul.

True to her word, Ema waits ten seconds, and then she’s after her partner at full force. She forces chakra through her feet to catch up with Kakuzu in record time, and as he turns the corner closest to the throne room she hops onto his back and tightens her hands around his throat. She doesn’t really want to kill her new partner, otherwise she would have tried to slice his head off.

Before Kakuzu has a chance to harden the skin around his neck, he slams into the door to the throne room, accidentally knocking it off its hinges. He and Ema fall through the door, and both freeze.

Pein, who has obviously been reading by the book in his hand, raises an eyebrow at the pair.

“I sincerely apologize, Leader,” Ema says dully, picking herself up off the stone floor and dusting off her coat as if she had merely tripped.

Kakuzu grunts, standing up with some difficulty. He rubs his neck gingerly and looks over at his partner. She looks no worse for wear and completely unrepentant, eyes bright and breathing evenly.

“Well, Kakuzu,” says Pein in an amused tone. “I think you’ve finally lost a battle.”

The older man positively glowers at Ema, who’s smiling again in that strange way she had smiled at Deidara. Kakuzu could kick himself. _That’s just her real smile!_

“Keep up the good work, Ema.”

“Will do, Leader,” the girl replies. “Sorry about the door.”

He waves his hand dismissively. “It’s fine. Deidara frequently blows it up. I could fix it in my sleep.”

“Alright,” says Ema, turning towards the doorway. “We’ll be off, then.”

“One thing.”

Ema pauses.

“Please don’t kill your teammate near the throne room. It makes an awful racket.”

“Yes, sir.”

With that, Ema heads back towards the kitchen, a seething Kakuzu walking behind her. How dare she make a fool of him! He’s never lost a fight before, yet this girl had sent him to the ground with no effort at all. He wants to kill her, wants to rip out her heart, wants to… He inhales deeply, trying to calm himself. No, that’s not a good idea. She just proved her worth, albeit in a humiliating way. He can’t kill her now. What can he do, though?

Kakuzu is lost in his thoughts when Ema enters the kitchen.

“Just in time,” says Kisame cheerfully. “Your soup was about to get cold!”

Ema smiles slightly at him. “Thank you, Kisame-san.”

Maybe Ema’s politeness isn’t a farce after all, Kakuzu muses. She’s a very strange girl. Violent and unpredictable, polite and calm. She’s the perfect partner for Kakuzu, he has to admit. She’s young and has obviously seen some shit. Maybe he was wrong to think of her as a useless brat. Maybe.

“Kakuzu-san? Did you hear my question?”

The stitched man blinks slowly. “Oh, uh, no. Sorry.”

“It’s fine. I asked if you ended up eating anything.”

Come to think of it, he hasn’t, so he says as much.

“Are you hungry?” Ema asks, a note of concern in her voice. “I can try to make you something, if you want.”

Kakuzu shakes his head. “Nah. Itachi, could you toss me an instant noodle cup?”

“Sure.”

A few minutes later, Kakuzu pulls down his mask and begins to eat. Kisame stares at his face openly, while Itachi is a little more discreet. Ema doesn’t seem to even notice the change, pacing restlessly around the kitchen.

“Please hurry, Kakuzu-san. I want to go back to our room.”

The stitched man just glares. “You can go there perfectly fine on your own.”

“I forgot where it is.”

“Have Deidara show you.”

“I don’t know where he went.”

“Excuses, excuses,” Kakuzu sighs. He stands up and grabs his snack. “I can eat in the room. Let’s go.”

Ema ignores the pointed avoidance of calling their room “our room”, instead darting out the door and heading quickly down the hallway. Kakuzu, whom has much longer legs, catches up easily.

“What’s wrong?” he asks the moment he’s sure they’re alone.

The girl bites her lip and looks away. “I think I injured my ankle when we fell through the door. It hurts to walk.”

“You seem just fine,” Kakuzu says doubtfully.

She scowls. “I’m a skilled actress.” As if to prove her point, Ema’s ankle chooses that moment to give up on her, and the girl falls to the ground. “Damn it,” she mutters, and tries to get up. On her third try, she gets it - however, that’s only because Kakuzu hauls her up by the arm. The second he lets go, Ema has to grab onto the wall to keep from falling, a pained hiss escaping her lips.

“Pathetic,” her partner sighs. “Do I need to carry you?”

Silence.

“Ema?”

And then a tiny, barely audible “yes”.

Kakuzu sets down his noodles, silently cursing his horrible luck. He puts an arm around Ema’s shoulders, hooks the other one under her knees, and pulls her up to his chest.

“Did you _have_ to pick me up bridal style?” Ema gripes.

“Did you _have_ to hurt your ankle while trying to kill me?” Kakuzu mocks back.

“I wasn’t trying to kill you. I was trying to teach you not to assume things,” says Ema matter-of-factly.

Kakuzu just rolls his eyes. “Look, I’m sorry I said something stupid. Let’s just get you in bed so I can get some help.”

“Fine.” She pauses, then glares up at him. “I’m four years older than him, you know. That’s nasty.”

“Four years is nothing to me, girl.”

One very silent, very uncomfortable walk later, Ema is in bed with her left ankle propped up. Kakuzu, although he’s very good at stitching and cleaning wounds, is by no means a medic, so he goes to ask Sasori how he deals with Deidara’s frequent injuries, leaving Ema alone in their room.

The girl gets bored fairly quickly, and she wishes she could walk so that she could look through Kakuzu’s things. Hey, she’s curious! He’s been a very secretive person so far, and one could always tell what kind of person someone is just by looking at what they owned. So far, all Ema knows is that Kakuzu likes reading and cup ramen. She knows there has to be more to him, but she’s almost afraid to ask. She doesn’t want him to hate her any more than he already does.

“I’m back,” says the deep voice of her partner, and Ema’s attention snaps to the doorway where a very annoyed-looking Kakuzu stands next to an excited-looking Deidara.

“I’m gonna wrap your ankle for you if that’s alright, un! You should probably bathe or shower or something first, though!”

Ema makes another face Kakuzu hasn’t seen before. It’s something between a grimace and a pout.

“Do I really need to?” she asks quietly.

“You really should, un,” responds Deidara. “I know Kisame and Itachi have a pretty nice bathtub if you wanna ask to borrow it!”

Ema’s face doesn’t change; in fact, she looks almost worse than before. Kakuzu thinks back to earlier, where she said she’s afraid of sharks.

Is she just afraid of water in general?

“Ema,” Kakuzu says in what he hopes is a coaxing tone, “The bandage will get gross if you don’t get clean before you put it on. Surely you know this.”

“I know,” she says, then takes a deep breath. “Can we go ask Kisame-san and Itachi-san about their bath, please?”

Deidara smiles brightly. “Sure, un!”

“You carry her this time,” says Kakuzu, jabbing a thumb in Ema’s direction. “She can’t walk.”

The blond blushes slightly. “Um, there’s a slight problem with that.”

“If it’s your pride, save it.”

“Not that, un! I’m just… she’s taller than me.”

Kakuzu groans. “Great.” He walks briskly to Ema’s bed, picks her up, and walks out of the room. “Grab some of her clothes from the dresser at the foot of her bed,” he calls to Deidara as an afterthought.

“Right!”

Sometimes brats are far more trouble than they’re worth.


	3. Growing Up

“Ema-chan! Wake up!”

Deidara’s voice has a way of cutting through one’s unconsciousness like a knife, and so the second the sleeping girl hears her name, she begins the uncomfortable process of waking up from an extremely deep sleep.

“Dei-chan,” she mumbles, still out of it. “Go away.”

He laughs, the sound sharp and loud, and she finally gathers enough energy to open one blue eye and glare hatefully at Deidara.

“There she is, the birthday girl!” he chirps, and she restrains herself from punching his lights out. Right. Her eighteenth birthday.

Ema stretches, feeling her pajama top raise above her belly button. She opens her other eye and gives Deidara a tiny smile. “I didn’t think anyone would remember,” she says sleepily. “Thanks.”

“You’ve been in the Akatsuki for over a month now,” he says. “Of course we’d remember. Also, Kakuzu’s been grumbling about money and birthday presents being stupid for the past week.”

The girl rolls her eyes. “No one has to get me anything. I wasn’t expecting anyone to even think about it.”

“Well, we did.” Ema turns her head to see Itachi in the doorway, arms crossed with his usual neutral expression on his face. “Happy birthday, Ema-chan.”

Her tiny smile gets just a bit bigger. “Thanks, Itachi-san.” She sits up and turns so she’s sitting on the edge of her bed. “Wait, where’s Kakuzu-san?” she asks.

“In the kitchen. He didn’t want to be anywhere near Deidara when he woke you up.”

Deidara pouts, the hands on his palms doing the exact same thing. “I’m not that loud!” he whines. “It takes a lot to wake up Ema-chan! Kakuzu knows that!”

“I have to say, I like your method of waking me up far more than Kakuzu-san’s,” says Ema around a yawn. “He usually just swats my face with those weird thread tentacles of his for a good few minutes. I’m surprised he doesn’t just slit my throat and have me choke awake.”

“I can definitely do that,” Kakuzu grumbles from behind Itachi.

Ema smirks. “No thanks, Kakuzu-san. Although I’m not adverse to you choking me in _other_ ways.”

Itachi facepalms. “Ema-chan, it’s really a miracle that you’re alive at all.”

“I agree,” says Kakuzu, but he has no venom in his tone. “Happy birthday, brat. I guess the others have taken it upon themselves to make sure that you get a celebration. Don’t expect much from me.”

“I would never,” she replies, standing up. “Well, get out. I need to get dressed.”

The three men leave rather quickly, much to Ema’s amusement. She pulls off her pajamas and tugs on a plain green t-shirt and her usual black pants. No point in putting on anything else, since she’s pretty sure that she won’t be going on any missions today.

She walks to the kitchen, where she can smell bacon cooking. As soon as she steps inside, she slams right into Kisame.

“Woah, sorry Ema-chan!”

It’s been a month, sure, but Ema still feels a little intimidated by the large, sharklike man. She smiles up at him, though, putting her fears aside.

“Hey, Kisame-san. It’s no problem.”

The answering grin is nothing short of terrifying. “You’re growing up, huh?”

“A little a day,” she answers, not letting her smile falter. He moves aside to let her into the kitchen.

Ema walks over to where Deidara’s cooking the bacon and leans her chin on his shoulder. He jolts, almost dropping the frying pan.

“Ema-chan!” he exclaims. “Don’t startle me like that, un!”

She pokes the thirteen-year-old’s cheek. “Your birthday is coming up soon, right? May, right?”

“How’d you figure _that_ out?” he asks. “I don’t think I’ve ever told you that, un.”

“I met Sasori-san for the first time the other day when I was looking for you,” she says innocently. “He’s a handsome guy.”

Immediately, all attention is on her.

“Sasori… handsome?” Kisame says slowly, as if Ema’s stupid. “As in, the creepy guy that shuffles around with a scorpion tail hanging off of him?”

The girl rolls her eyes. “That’s just a puppet. The real Sasori-san is-”

“Brat.” Everyone turns to the doorway, where Sasori stands tall, red hair on full display.

Even Itachi’s eyebrows raise. “Is this Sasori?” the fifteen-year-old asks carefully.

“Damn right, I’m Sasori,” replies the redhead, brushing past everyone on his way to Ema. He hands her a large pouch. “You wanted custom paralytic senbon, right? Here.” And with that, he strides out of the room, leaving everyone besides Ema speechless.

“Awesome!” she says with a smile. “I didn’t think he’d actually do this!”

Itachi rubs his temples. “I can feel a migraine coming already.”

“You’re telling _me_ ,” Kakuzu groans. “Why does she make friends with literally everyone she meets?”

“I’m friendly. I’m fun. And I have a nice body.” Ema lazily throws a senbon at Deidara, who dodges. It embeds itself in the pantry door. “Woah, nice!”

“I’m not exactly surprised about it, but how did you and Master Sasori become friends?” he asks, pulling the senbon out and examining it. “He’s kind of grouchy, un.”

The girl smiles slightly. “He was actually complaining about you when I met him.”

“Eh?” Deidara whines. “I’m a wonderful partner, un!”

“You planted a bomb so close to him that it messed up the ‘impeccable paint job’ on Hiruko,” says Ema, stifling a laugh. “We got into a conversation about poisons when I started helping him fix Hiruko’s paint job. And then I mentioned wanting a pack of mild paralytic senbon. I didn’t actually think he’d give me any, but I guess he wanted to repay me for the help.”

Kakuzu pinches the bridge of his nose. “You really can do anything.”

“What can I say?” she replies. “I’m kinda stubborn.”

“Ridiculous, more like,” he mutters.

Ema pointedly ignores his complaint, instead picking up a piece of bacon and popping it in her mouth. “Mm! It’s good!”

“Glad you like it, un,” says Deidara absently. He eats a piece, then holds out the frying pan to anyone who wants some. Surprisingly, even Kakuzu takes a piece.

“Didn’t know you liked greasy foods,” observes Ema.

“I don’t. Deidara’s just good at making bacon.”

The girl rolls her eyes and leans back against the counter, recalling her seventeenth birthday. She was with the Third’s children most of the day. She didn’t even tell them it was her birthday. Then, she went to the jonin standby station, and… She pushes away the memories when she feels pain blossoming in her chest.

“Are you alright, Ema-chan?” asks Itachi. She jumps. The corner of his mouth twitches. “Didn’t notice me come over, hm?”

“Sorry,” she says. “Kind of got lost in memories.”

A warm hand touches her wrist. “I understand.”

Ema raises an eyebrow. Itachi just shrugs. Before she can speak, though, Deidara bounds over to her with a poorly-wrapped box in his hands. She pulls away from Itachi and gives Deidara a small smile.

“Is that for me?”

“Yep!” The blond hands her the box, and it takes less than ten seconds for Ema to unwrap and open it. Her eyes widen when she sees what’s inside.

“Beautiful,” she says softly, reaching out to touch one of the little clay animals. “You made these?”

“With my own two hands, un!” Deidara beams at her. “They’re not bombs for once! I just made them because I thought you’d like them.”

“I love them,” says Ema, and she means it.

“I guess it’s time to give her gifts?” questions Kisame. He comes over and gives Ema an unwrapped box.

Inside is a brown pouch attached to a belt. “It has sealing patches on the inside for bigger stuff, but I thought you could keep some kunai or something in there.” The sharklike man grins at her. “Not that you need weapons, but it is practical.”

“Thank you, Kisame-san! I’ve been meaning to get one of these for myself.” Ema immediately turns the pouch inside out to look at the seals.

Itachi coughs softly, catching the girl’s attention. “I have something for you, as well.” He passes her a leatherbound journal.

“It’s lovely, Itachi-san,” says Ema, passing her hands over the cover. “Thank you.”

He smiles, slight but genuine. She smiles back.

The moment is utterly destroyed by Deidara burning himself on the frying pan and screeching expletives. Ema bursts out laughing, even as she turns on the cold water and tugs the blond over to make sure he isn’t burnt too badly.

“Thanks, Ema-chan,” he says sheepishly.

“Be more careful,” she chides. “You could’ve really gotten hurt.”

“Worried?” he asks with a sly grin.

The girl’s cheeks color slightly, and she looks away. “I guess.”

“You’re so much more open than you were when you first joined, un.” Deidara crosses his arms and squints at Ema. Then he smiles again. “I like it.”

“I don’t,” grumbles Kakuzu. “Brat thinks she can sass me back.”

“Did he ask for your opinion?” asks Ema brightly. “I don’t think so!”

“See, this is what I’m talking about.”

“Relax, Kakuzu-san,” she says. “I was joking.”

“So was I.”

Ema blinks in surprise. “You? Joking?”

“I know, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing. Don’t expect it to happen again.”

“Right,” says Ema slowly. “Now that I’m aware that Kakuzu-san has a sense of humor, are there any _other_ national secrets I need to know about?”

“You already know what Master Sasori looks like, un. That’s about it here,” says Deidara. “I mean, other than the fact that Kisame’s a little spoon.”

“Watch your mouth, blondie,” Kisame says.

Ema can’t help it, she laughs. It starts as a giggle and turns into a chuckle and then she can’t breathe and she’s gripping the counter for support.

“Are you alright, Ema-chan?” asks Itachi.

The girl just wipes away the few tears that have fallen and gives him a bright, genuine smile.

“I’ve never been so happy,” she says. “I think I might’ve found a home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry, kind of a short chapter! i've been working on it for months and it just... it won't cooperate. i'll be posting chapter 4 today as well so don't be upset.


	4. Close Encounters

“So I just have to kill a man a Konoha jonin is guarding… Simple.” Ema rubs her temples, dodging another punch with the ease of having done it a thousand times in training. “Or it would be, if the jonin wasn’t _Kakashi of the fucking Sharingan_. Somehow, I think Leader messed up on that detail on purpose.”

Kakashi shrugs, aiming a kick for the girl’s chest. She leaps back. “I wasn’t expecting this mission to be easy, but I didn’t expect Ema of the Red Wind to come after me, either. Aren’t you supposed to be in Suna? Is this an international incident I need to report?”

“Look more closely,” she says, rolling her eyes and launching herself at his head. He grabs her wrists, stilling her for a second so he can look at the forehead protector around her neck.

“Ah,” he says, and throws her at a tree. “You defected.”

Ema smiles slightly, picking herself up off the ground. “Yep. Can’t tell you much else, though. Sorry.” She throws a kunai aimed straight for his Sharingan eye, but he ducks. “Damn it, stay still!”

“Not on your life, Ema.” He makes several hand seals, and Ema recognizes the attack as a fire jutsu Itachi favors.

She easily dodges it, pulling a poisoned senbon out of the pouch at her hip and slipping it up her sleeve. “Are we on a first-name basis now, Kakashi-san?” She bats her eyelashes and nearly gets a kunai to the stomach. “Jeez, I was joking! Someone as cute as you probably has a girlfriend.”

“Not exactly, but you’re entirely too young for me. What are you, sixteen?” Kakashi continues pressing forward with his kunai, putting Ema on the defensive.

She pouts and counts the seconds between attacks. When she’s certain she has the pattern down, she slides the senbon down into her palm.

“Actually,” she says, standing still and jabbing the sharp end into Kakashi’s wrist, “I’m eighteen.” His hand goes limp just a few centimeters away from her stomach. The kunai drops. Ema grins. “I have _got_ to thank my poison supplier for this.”

Kakashi scowls, his displeasure visible even through that mask. He pulls out another kunai with his left hand. “You are so irritating.”

“I’m told that a lot by my partner.” She waves a hand dismissively. “Let’s talk more about your love life. So, no girlfriend. Boyfriend?”

A furious swipe at her face is all the answer she needs. Her grin gets impossibly bigger. “Oh my God, Kakashi-san! You have a boyfriend! I can’t wait to tell- wait, shit, can’t say his name.”

“You really need to learn when to shut your mouth,” he says lowly. “Or else I might have to shut it for you.”

A shiver goes down her spine. “Oh God, please do.” She dodges his kick.

“Stop taking things the wrong way, you idiotic child!” If she didn’t know better, Ema would say Kakashi’s blushing.

She sends chakra to her feet and jumps forward to knee the jonin in the chest. He catches her and slings her into another tree. She stands on the bark with her arms crossed. “You really need to kill me, you know. Sooner or later, I’m going to break away and kill your client.”

“You need to kill me as well, Ema.” He seems to have calmed down. “What do you say we both get serious?”

“Although it’s super fun to keep playing like this, I think that’s probably a good idea.” She sighs. “I just wanna go home and take a bath.”

“Then let’s finish this.”

\--

“Ow!” Ema whines as Kakuzu stitches up her arm. “You don’t have to be so violent, I hurt him way more than this!”

“You still were reckless, as shown by your chakra levels and level of muscle fatigue.”

The girl turns to glare at Itachi, then remembers she has news to give him. “Oh my God, Itachi-san, you’re never gonna believe this…”

\--

Kakashi leans back in his hospital bed, frustrated beyond belief. He failed a mission. Although he’s failed missions before, he’s never lost to such a young girl, especially one that taunted him like she had.

“Kakashi-senpai?” Tenzo calls softly, entering the room. “I heard from the nurse that you took quite a beating.”

The silver-haired man sighs. “I fought Ema of the Red Wind.”

“Isn’t she from Suna? Did the Kazekage send her?” Tenzo moves as if to leave again, probably to alert the Hokage.

Kakashi shakes his head. “She defected. She’s surprisingly strong, for an eighteen year old.”

His boyfriend whistles. “Young.”

“Not that young. She’s quite immature, though.” He scowls at the memory of her teasing. “She kept taking everything I said the wrong way. Stupid brat.”

“No one will believe you if you tell them that. Ema of the Red Wind is known for being an ice queen. Kind of ironic, since she’s from the desert.” Tenzo smiles, then sits on the bed beside Kakashi. “She must’ve taken a liking to you. She’s also known for killing all opponents that she defeats.”

Kakashi groans. “I’d rather she kill me than like me. What a troublesome opponent.”

“You’re starting to sound like Shikaku-san,” Tenzo says jokingly. The other man just glares. “Right, right. Do you need anything before I go alert Hokage-sama that you’re awake?”

The silver-haired man looks away, then mumbles something. Tenzo hears it and smiles.

“Well, mask off.”

\--

“Oh my God, are you _stalking_ me?”

“Oh, hi, Kakashi-san!” Ema says brightly, dodging a barrage of kunai. “I didn’t know I’d get the pleasure of seeing you again. How’s your boyfriend?”

A furious Sharingan glare would scare a greater man than Ema, but she is not a man. She’s a full-on annoying teenage girl. And she lives with Kakuzu. So the most that the glare does is make her pout, much to the amusement of Izumo and Kotetsu, the two chunin that Kakashi is partnered with for this mission.

“Is this someone we should tell Tenzo about?” asks Kotetsu with his usual lopsided grin.

“This,” growls Kakashi, “is Ema of the Red Wind.”

The chunin exchange a glance, then as one shake their heads. “No way,” Izumo says. “She’s too friendly. And we’re still alive. She must’ve hoodwinked you.”

“Oh, I assure you, I am Ema of the Red Wind,” says the girl sweetly. “I just really like Kakashi-san. He’s funny.” To prove her point, she pushes chakra to her hands and rushes Izumo, who doesn’t move in time. She presses both hands to his rib cage, above the stomach but below the heart. He goes flying backwards with the force and slams into a tree. He doesn’t get up.

“Izumo!” Kotetsu exclaims, running towards his fallen comrade.

“Ema,” warns Kakashi.

She smiles, but there is no warmth in her expression. “He’s not dead. Probably concussed. We’d better finish this fast if you want to have a chance to get him medical treatment.”

“You don’t have to do this,” he says, just a little pleading in his tone.

“You don’t understand,” she retorts, smile falling. “It’s my life or your client’s. Unless you manage to severely incapacitate me, I have no excuse for failing. I’m not part of a hidden village, Kakashi-san. I don’t get a second chance where I am right now.”

Before he can reply, her hand is two centimeters away from his forehead, chakra flickering at her fingertips.

“I’m going to end up killing you if we keep meeting. I think it’s a coincidence right now, but…” she pauses, and the chakra on her hand fizzles out. “It might turn into a ‘kill Kakashi-san’ order eventually, y’know? And I don’t want that.” She puts on her usual bright grin, and for the first time, Kakashi notices the strain on her face.

He doesn’t have much time to think on it, because the chakra flickers back to life, and he’s playing the dangerous game Ema has set up for him.

\--

“Kakuzu-san,” says Ema softly. She has no deep cuts this time, only bruising and broken bones, and Pein has already sent for a healer. Despite this, the stitched man has insisted on staying with his partner, saying that he won’t be to blame for her getting herself hurt worse.

“What, brat?” he asks, irritated.

She looks over at him and touches his arm, wincing at the movement of her badly bruised wrist. He glances down at her hand.

“I think Leader wants me to kill Kakashi-san,” she whispers. “But I don’t want to.”

“You left him unconscious again?” asks a mild voice.

Ema fixes a glare on Itachi. “Eavesdropping much?”

“Overheard. You should really be careful of what you say in this hideout.” Itachi lifts Ema’s arm and examines it. “Kakashi really roughed you up.”

She makes a face. “I gave as good as I got! Better, really, since I was still conscious when I escaped. We were pretty close to Konoha, so I left the two chunin he was with unconscious and Kakashi-san badly wounded. They’ll all live, though.”

“You ran from close to Konoha to all the way here?” Itachi gasps, tightening his grip on her arm. “I know you have ridiculous stamina, but isn’t this pushing it?”

Ema smiles slightly. “Don’t worry about me, Itachi-san. I know my limits.”

“Do you really?” he asks, voice soft. “I’m going to recommend a two-week long break for you and ask Leader to stop sending you on solo missions, at least against Konoha jonin.”

“I hate to say this, but I agree.” Ema looks up at Kakuzu in confusion. He pinches the bridge of his nose. “I don’t want you dead, at least at this point. Annoying as you are, you’re fairly powerful, and we work well together, I guess. Leader is either prepping you to kill Hatake or prepping you to die at his hand. And you don’t want either.”

The girl smiles, and it’s a real smile. “Thank you.”

“Ema-chan!” Deidara raps his knuckles on the doorframe with a grin. “The healer’s here, un! Or, as Leader told me to say, your presence is requested in the throne room.”

Kakuzu stretches. “Well, Itachi, can you carry Ema?”

“Of course,” says Itachi. He easily picks the scowling girl up, despite being fifteen and almost the same height as her.

“See, if he can carry her, why can’t you?” Kakuzu gripes to Deidara as they walk down the hall. The fourteen-year-old frowns.

“Itachi’s almost sixteen, un! And I’m short as shit, if you haven’t noticed! I’m also a long-range fighter, so I don’t really train my muscles that much, un!”

Kakuzu rolls his eyes. “Whatever. From now on, I’m getting Itachi when she’s injured.”

“She has a name!” calls Ema. “Do I really have to be carried? I can run on broken bones, why can’t I walk?”

Itachi shifts her so he can poke her forehead. “Ema-chan, we aren’t going to let you hurt yourself further. That’s why Kakuzu was sitting with you.”

“Ugh, it’s irritating. I hate being useless.” They walk through the door to the throne room.

“Perhaps you shouldn’t get injured to the point of uselessness, then.”

Ema looks up at Pein, who’s sitting on his throne as usual. “I’m sorry, Leader. Kakashi-san beats me up rather thoroughly whenever I meet him.”

“Well, you won’t have to worry about him for awhile. You’re getting three weeks off, and then you’ll be going on a joint mission with Itachi, Konan, and Kakuzu. Be in top form for that.” The leader of the Akatsuki gestures to a young man that Ema recognizes from the first time she fought Kakashi. “This is the medic-nin that will heal you. Take him to your room and have Kakuzu take him back here when he’s finished.”

“Her again?” he asks bemusedly.

Ema waves cheerfully, then winces at the movement. “Hello, Kaoru-san!”

Kaoru runs a hand through his short blond hair and frowns. “You really have a habit of getting the shit beaten out of you, don’t you?”

“Hey! I gave as good as I got, I bet the medic-nin in Konoha are crying!”

\--

“She beat you _again_?” asks Tenzo worriedly from a chair beside Kakashi’s hospital bed. “You should probably take a break from A-Rank missions, especially since they seem to rapidly turn into S-Rank ones. You’re not Anbu anymore, Kakashi-senpai. You don’t need all this strain.”

The jonin waves his hand dismissively. “I’m twenty-four, I’m at my prime. Don’t worry over me, Tenzo. That girl doesn’t want me dead.”

“She nearly destroyed your stomach!”

“She was holding back.”

The younger man narrows his eyes. “What are you hiding?”

“Listen…” Kakashi pulls Tenzo by his hand onto the bed beside him. He leans close to his boyfriend’s ear with some difficulty. “She’s in some sort of organization, and I think they’re trying to get her to kill me. She told me herself she doesn’t want me dead. She left Izumo and Kotetsu alive with far fewer injuries than me. Something in her has changed from her Suna days.”

Tenzo nods, then places a soft kiss on Kakashi’s covered mouth. “I trust you, you know that.”

“I know,” says Kakashi, smiling gently. “That’s what I love about you. That, and your body heat.” He wraps his arms around his boyfriend, who leans into his touch.

“I wonder if Fate’s done laughing at you yet,” muses Tenzo. “You have to be incredibly unlucky to be beaten by the same missing-nin twice.”

Kakashi shrugs. “Fate’s hated me for a very long time. I doubt it’ll change anytime soon.”

“Well, no matter what, you have me, senpai.” The brunet smiles up at Kakashi.

They break apart quickly at the sound of footsteps rapidly approaching the hospital room.

“Kakashi!” Kotetsu says, gasping for breath. “We were so worried!”

Izumo crosses his arms, but nods. “We only just now heard that you’re awake.”

Kakashi rolls his visible eye. “I’m fine, you two. Ema went easy on me.” Tenzo scoffs but Kakashi ignores it.

“Easy?” Kotetsu demands incredulously. “We heard one of the medic-nin complaining about how hard it is to basically recreate a stomach from scratch!”

“I’m alive, aren’t I?” asks Kakashi mildly. “She could have easily killed me, especially considering how close to Konoha we were.”

“Yes, but still-” Izumo goes quiet at the glare he feels in his soul. He and Kotetsu slowly turn around.

“What the _fuck_ are you doing out of bed?”

“Listen, Hikari-chan,” Kotetsu says weakly. “We had to visit our squad leader!”

The raven-haired medic-nin doesn’t let up. “Get back to your fucking rooms,” she hisses, and the two chunin scatter. Her expression changes the second she sees Kakashi, going back to cool professionalism.

“Hatake-san, how are you feeling?” she asks, picking up a clipboard. “You woke up a few hours ago, correct? Does anything hurt?”

He gives her a polite smile, not that she can see it through his mask. “Not really. My stomach is a bit sore, but no burning or sharp pains.”

“You’re lucky to have reached the hospital in time,” Hikari sighs. “I don’t know what you were thinking, fighting that girl. She’s absolutely ruthless. You should have taken your client and ran, along with those two idiots.” Her mask slips for a second, and she scowls darkly. Kakashi almost jumps. For a sixteen-year-old chunin just out of training, Hikari is incredibly scary when she wants to be.

“Right, right. I’ll try not to fight her again,” he says, trying to placate her.

Her scowl disappears, mask back in place. “Good. Now, be careful.” She gives Tenzo a look. “No strenuous activity.”

“We won’t do anything,” says the brunet, having the decency to look abashed.

Hikari gives him a small, genuine smile. “I know you won’t. Just had to say it.” She turns to Kakashi, and her expression changes to concern. “And, off the record, please don’t take any high-level missions for a while. I don’t want you to run into Ema again. She may like you enough to leave you alive, but sooner or later, she’s going to damage something we can’t repair.”

“Don’t worry so much, Hikari,” Kakashi says gently. “But Tenzo said the same thing. I won’t take any more risky missions. Hopefully, you won’t see me in one of these stupid beds for a while.”

The chunin nods once, then marks something on her clipboard. “You should be good to leave tomorrow, then.”

He grins. “Thanks.”

“Don’t thank me just yet,” she warns. “I’m telling the Hokage you’ll be ready to report by tomorrow evening.” She leaves the room to the sound of her patient groaning and allows herself a secretive smile. “Kaoru-nii-san, be safe,” she whispers. “You’re in dangerous company.”


End file.
